🎧 Listened in audio | ⏱ Duration: 6 hours
📢 Narrated by Sarah Zimmerman
Genre: Paranormal cozy mystery
🏷️ Publisher name: Tantor Media
Book Blurb:
Lucy Swift is at a crossroads, stuck between a cringe-worthy past and an uncertain future, so she heads to Oxford to stay with her grandmother and help out at Cardinal Woolsey’s, Gran’s knitting shop. Then she learns Gran is dead, or at least undead. There’s a death certificate and a will leaving the shop to Lucy, but Gran is still knitting sweaters at warp speed after dark. When Lucy finds out Gran was murdered, she has to catch the killer without letting the police learn the grave is empty. A 600-year-old vampire and a dishy detective inspector keep turning up to help, and her cat may be more than a cat.
Let’s talk about the book:
Having read the prequel, I immediately understood the backstory. So as soon as Lucy Swift came to find her grandmother is dead, I immediately knew where the story was going. However, predictability does not equal to a boring read. Nancy Warren has done a brilliant story building and character development in this series. (the character development I refer to is between the prequel and the first book in the series, of course. It’s a long series and I take it as a given that the storyline would keep getting better).
What did not work for me in this book is the readiness with which Lucy accepts being a witch, and the startling pace at which she takes on the magic. I have read numerous paranormal cozies and this has to be one of the very few where the main character is so easily convinced of the magical elements in the world. Unless she is also an avid paranormal reader like, this part really irked me. She was leading a normal life, and suddenly she is pushed into a world of vampires and witches, and it is a perfectly sane transition. Yeah, right!
However, the underlying mystery on who killed her grandmother was intriguingly written. Having a series of suspects, primarily the real estate tycoon, really threw the game off for me. I thought it would be someone else, but it turned out to be an even better surprise when the killer was revealed to be someone else, but with equally good justification. The ending is satisfying and I can’t wait to continue to book 2 to see where Lucy and Rafe take their story forward.
Would I recommend it?
Yes, I would. If you like paranormal cozy mysteries, The Vampire Knitting Club is a fun way into a long series. I’d read the prequel first, since it fills in the backstory. The killer reveal got me, even with a long list of suspects, and the ending left me wanting to start book 2 right away to find out where Lucy and Rafe go next.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 book recommendations
Stitches and Witches by Nancy Warren (Vampire Knitting Club #2)
The obvious next stop, where Lucy and Rafe’s story picks up and the knitting needles keep flying.
Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton (Knitting Mysteries #1)
Another cozy built around a yarn shop, minus the vampires, for when you want the knitting circle with a straight mystery.
Witch Way to Murder by Heather Blake (Wishcraft Mysteries #1)
A witch with a murder to solve in a small town, good if you liked the magic being part of the sleuthing.
Secondhand Spirits by Juliet Blackwell (Witchcraft Mysteries #1)
A witch who runs a vintage clothing shop and ends up chasing a killer, which pairs nicely with Lucy and her knitting shop.
The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt (Witch Mysteries #1)
A small-town woman learns she has magic and gets pulled into a murder, much like Lucy discovering her grandmother’s secrets.
Got a Favourite Vampire (Who Knits)?
Have you read The Vampire Knitting Club, or are you still deciding whether to start the series? If you’ve read it, tell me who you suspected before the killer was revealed. I’d love to know if the real estate tycoon fooled you too. And if you have a favourite paranormal cozy series I should add to my list, drop it in the comments.
Book Links
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Indiebookstores.ca | Bookshop.org | Goodreads | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Fable | Hardcover | Booktrovert | OpenLibrary | Litsy
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